


Where Eren finds cats (or they find him)

by walking_through_autumn



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-29
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-12-21 17:54:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/903152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walking_through_autumn/pseuds/walking_through_autumn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before he met Armin, he had cats for company. A story in which Eren Jaegar has a hidden soft spot for cats (and they for him).</p>
<p>Written for a prompt on the SnK Kink Meme.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where Eren finds cats (or they find him)

1.

Before he met Armin, he had cats for company. He didn’t really like the other kids in town. Some were stuck up, and some were okay but kinda timid. Wandering around he found ways to entertain himself. And then he got himself stuck in a very tall tree.

He wondered how he got up there. The river looked tiny, though the walls were massive as ever even beside this tall tree. Hanging on to the trunk, he wondered if he should suck up his pride and holler for help when he heard a soft mew.

Just on the next branch over, a ginger cat with white patches looked at him and, after a pause, let out another plaintive mew. It had huge amber eyes.

“…hello.”

“ _Meow_.”

Eren reached out a hand. The cat sniffed at it, brushing a small pink nose against his palm when – _it? He? Seemed like a she by his instinct, so he’ll go with that –_ deemed him acceptable. Eren, very carefully, unsure how to handle a sentient being much smaller than himself, picked up the cat by the middle and settled her on his lap. She was tiny. Well, tinier than him, though maybe she’s like a teenager cat or something.

She took small walks on his thighs, paws padding and sinking into his skin. Eren snorted and rubbed the fur on her back. “Settle down already, come on. Or you’ll fall outta the tree.”

So she did, curling into a ball on his lap, not before sending one last, demanding gaze at him. Eren rested his hand on her head and stroked, and she became a happy, purring ball of fur.

They stayed that way until Grisha found them, dozing together in the warm sunset.

2.

Unknown to most of the trainees except Armin, Mikasa, and Eren, there was a corner behind an abandoned shed that they liked to rest in. The shed contained all sorts of faulty gear and stuff that nobody wanted anymore, and it was out of the way of the training grounds. It likely belonged to a groundskeeper a long time ago.

One day, after bathing and dinner, before lights out, they snuck out to their spot again and found a black cat there, an imperious expression on her face. Eren spotted her first when he saw gleaming green eyes peering at them out of the darkness. He stopped talking, his train of thought about the latest episode of Jean’s stupidity trailing off. Armin and Mikasa followed his gaze and found the cat.

“Oh,” Armin said. “What’s it doing here?”

“She,” Eren replied, absently. He walked forward and, keeping a distance between himself and the cat, crouched down to take a better look. “Probably wandered away from town. Long way to come, isn’t it?”

Armin and Mikasa exchanged amused glances, though Eren didn’t notice it. He held out a hand for the cat to sniff, waiting to pass inspection. If passing inspection meant she turned her head away and allowed him to scratch her ears.

Armin crouched beside him, Mikasa following suit on the other side. “She’s pregnant,” Eren said quietly. He rubbed his hand down her back, feeling the vibrations of her purr. “Maybe due soon.”

Her stomach did seem large. Armin sucked in a breath. “You’re right. Wow. That’s why she came here?” It was a quiet, dark place, shady even in the afternoon thanks to the woods near it.

“Yeah. Armin, d’you know where we can get a cardboard box? And a blanket or towel.”

“I’m sure we can find something, maybe even in this shed. Wanna come along, Mikasa?” Armin asked with a soft smile.

Mikasa’s gaze seemed fixed on Eren, whose lips were turned up just the slightest in the corners. “Sure,” she murmured.

In the end, she seemed to approve of the box with shredded cloth and an old, soft towel. They left her to it, and two days later when they came back Eren’s eyes lit up when he saw five small balls curled next to their mother.

3.

While Eren was supervised even on his breaks, they left him alone as long as he didn’t wander away from the large field. His breaks tended to take the form of dozing under a tree, and it honestly wasn’t that interesting for anyone to watch, even for Hanji.

Petra was the first to notice that today, while Eren was under his usual tree, he wasn’t dozing. He had his back to them and seemed to be inspecting something on the ground. Leaving Auruo to his complaining with Erd, she set off toward the tree, curious. Having listened to Auruo’s long speeches about Eren’s incompetence in the maneuver gear for five times she had learnt to roll her eyes and ignore him.

She thought of calling out to him, then changed the thought when she heard a soft laugh and Eren saying something. Unlike his usual serious, earnest tone when he spoke to his seniors and captain, he sounded…Petra thought he sounded playful, like a kid again.

Now Petra was definitely curious. Moving closer and keeping her footsteps as soft as possible, she tried to peer over Eren’s shoulder. There was something orange in his lap, and something black on his thigh, pawing at his chest. Petra had to hide her squeal when she realized they were cats.

They were cats _Eren Jaegar_ was playing with.

“That’s for the maneuver gear,” Eren said, clicking his tongue and catching the cat’s paw. The cat mewed and its companion, nestled comfortably against Eren’s stomach, let out a mew too. “The Captain will kill me if you scratch it.” The cat seemed put out at it and only tried to paw at Eren’s chest again. Eren chuckled, scratching at the cat’s ears. “Why can’t you go sleep like your sister?”

Petra wished she had the skills of a painter, because she needed to capture this. A fifteen meter titan class, hope and possible threat to humanity, sitting in the dappled sunlight and petting cats. She involuntarily let out a sigh.

That caught Eren’s attention, as well as the cats’. Eren looked like he was going to burst into flames with how red his face turned. “Pe, Petra! I’m sorry, is break over?” Eren asked, embarrassment and surprise painted across his face. In his lap the two cats looked over at Petra with suspicion. The black cat let out a plaintive sound because Eren had stopped his petting motions.

She wanted to sigh again. “No, no, I was just wondering what you were doing. Where did they come from?” Petra asked, resisting the urge to make cooing noises.

“Um, I don’t know, actually. They were just there in the bushes,” Eren muttered, looking down and scratching the black one behind the ears.

“You like cats?” Petra asked, crouching down.

Eren shrugged. “They’re okay. Better than some humans, I guess – ” He looked down at the cat and clicked his tongue. “What? What do you want this time?” he murmured at the cat who was now pawing at his stomach. The cat mewed and rubbed its head against him. “You’re a troublesome one.”

This time Petra did coo. Eren’s eyes widened as though he just remembered again that she was there. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes.

“Petra, please, please don’t tell anyone else.”

“Why not?” she asked, all innocent and bright eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with liking cats.”

“But they’ll – I mean – uh,” Eren fumbled for an explanation. “Just don’t, please?”

Petra hummed, stood up, and dusted off her pants. She said, “Break will be over soon.”

“Oh,” Eren said. She thought she heard a note of disappointment in it. The mews from his lap definitely sounded unhappy. “I’ll be there soon,” Eren said, and he clicked his tongue at the cats once more.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have been so surprised when Hanji found him after training and demanded to do an extensive experiment on titan relations with animals. Petra never did make any promise to him. 


End file.
